2015 Top Outcomes

... and three decades of managing for results

2015

In the lead-up to the December 2015 Paris climate conference, more than 180 countries that account for more than 90% of global greenhouse gas emissions put forward post-2020 climate plans known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). WRI experts provided INDC guidance for use by all countries and worked with several governments to strengthen their plans. WRI also separately conducted an analysis that found that the ambitious U.S. climate target is achievable.

The Challenge

The INDCs have the potential to put the world on a path toward a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. To be effective, these pledges should be ambitious and equitable, so that each country does its fair share to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The pledges should also be transparent in order to build trust and accountability and to make the collective impact of the commitments clear.

WRI’s Role

Key countries – some of which became catalysts in international negotiations culminating in the Paris climate conference – used WRI’s guidance, developed with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and technical support in developing their INDCs. WRI offered training about the guidance to three-quarters of the countries participating in the climate talks. WRI supplemented this guidance with an “Open Book” list of information countries should provide in their INDCs, focused on enhancing transparency, prepared in consultation with government representatives. Finally, WRI conducted an analysis that concluded that the emissions reduction target in the U.S. INDC – 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 – is challenging but achievable using existing legal authority. (WRI did not contribute to the creation of the U.S. INDC.)

The Impact

WRI helped inform well-designed INDCs, allowing countries to signal to the world they are doing their part to combat climate change. Use of the Open Book list has enhanced the transparency and quality of information provided in INDCs, which will lead to greater accountability and help enable an understanding of whether country commitments are collectively ambitious enough to keep warming to below 2 degrees Celsius or to what extent additional action is needed.

WRI’s analysis of the U.S. target – the only independent, economy-wide detailed analysis of emissions reduction potential under existing authority – helped the world to view the U.S. target as credible and achievable, which contributed to momentum toward a strong climate deal in Paris.

Countries in Latin America are seizing the opportunity to restore degraded landscapes, capturing gains in agricultural production, soil and water quality, and conservation of biodiversity, while also creating sizable carbon sinks. Through Initiative 20x20, the first regional commitment to forest and landscape restoration at scale in Latin America, a group of governments pledged to restore over 23.8 million hectares (59 million acres), attracting $670 million in impact investment pledges.

The Challenge

Global demand for forestry commodities is rising rapidly, especially in emerging and developing economies. Producing fuel, fiber and timber from forests creates opportunity for economic growth but also increases pressure on natural resources. Globally, about 13 million hectares (32 million acres) are being cleared each year, and in the past decade most of the world’s forest loss has occurred in the tropics. Commercial agriculture is responsible for 71 percent of tropical deforestation worldwide, much of it illegal. Latin America has a huge opportunity to scale up restoration of degraded lands but as of August 2014 only El Salvador had made an international commitment when it pledged to restore one million hectares through the Bonn Challenge.

WRI’s Role

WRI helped launch Initiative 20x20, a country-led effort to bring 20 million hectares (49 million acres) of land in Latin America and the Caribbean into restoration by 2020, at the Lima COP20 climate conference. WRI supports Initiative 20x20 through its Global Restoration Initiative and facilitates the dialogue between governments, civil society and the private sector to build a coalition and achieve the initiative’s goals.

WRI recruited local and regional institutions such as Bioversity International, CATIE, CIAT, Fundación Agreste, ICRAF, Instituto Humboldt, IUCN and Sustainable Amazon Foundation to become partners, making this an initiative supported by Latin American institutions. WRI also made the economic case for restoration to governments and the private sector, including impact investors. The team identified large areas with restoration potential in the “Atlas of Forest and Landscape Restoration Opportunities,” highlighted examples of successful restoration, and developed a Restoration Diagnostic tool to guide action.

The Impact

Initiative 20x20 is the first-ever regional commitment to forest and landscape restoration at scale in Latin America. Over the past 12 months, Initiative 20x20 has helped to mobilize political commitments to restore 23.8 million hectares (59 million acres) of forestlands (an area nearly as large as the United Kingdom) and impact investment commitments of $670 million. The team also convened a diverse regional technical partnership to support successful implementation of these commitments.

Raahgiri Day, a car-free event initiated by WRI and partners, has expanded to more than 36 locations in 30 cities in India. Together, some 10 million people have taken part. By promoting safer roads, more physical activity, less air pollution and stronger communities, Raahgiri Day is changing lifestyles and shifting perceptions of urban life.

The Challenge

One-tenth of all road traffic fatalities occur in India, the most of any country in the world. The majority of victims are pedestrians and cyclists, who have not traditionally been a priority for urban planners. With India’s cities expected to grow by over 200 million residents by 2030, action is needed to make streets safer for non-motorists.

WRI’s Role

With four local partners, WRI helped launch the first Raahgiri Day in November 2013 in Gurgaon, near New Delhi. Since then, the city closes major streets to motorized vehicles for several hours on Sundays, opening them for recreational activities including cycling, dancing, walking and yoga. WRI played a key role in developing and organizing the Raahgiri Day concept and joined with media to promote it. After this initial success, WRI worked with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Times of India and Hindustan Times to replicate the event in other Indian cities.

The Impact

The original Raahgiri Day in Gurgaon has continued to expand and has attracted over a million participants since its inception. WRI and its partners have helped take Raahgiri Day to an additional 11 cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Ahmedabad. Eighteen more cities have launched events inspired by Raahgiri Day, often customized with local names. Altogether, some 10 million people have taken part in the car-free events.

By promoting safer roads and increased physical activity, these events have helped to shift the perception of urban mobility, introducing the idea of streets as public spaces. Raahgiri Day is sparking a movement for change, and decision-makers are taking notice. Gurgaon, for example, has built 8 kilometers (5 miles) of cycle track and is planning a larger network. Delhi has started the process of redesigning 1,260 kilometers (783 miles) of main city roads with pedestrians and cyclists in mind. Bhopal is initiating India’s first bike-sharing program. With increasing interest from citizens and governments, Raahgiri Day is poised to help bring sustainable mobility to cities across India, demonstrating that streets are not just for cars, but for pedestrians and cyclists, too.

More cities are using the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC), an international standard that WRI created for cities to measure and report on their emissions. Already, more than 300 cities – up from about 100 at the end of 2014 – have committed to use the GPC. These cities are home to more than 300 million people and annually emit about 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent – roughly the same as Brazil and Germany’s total annual emissions combined.

The Challenge

Cities are responsible for 70 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. More than half of the world’s people currently live in urban areas, and this is expected to grow to two-thirds by 2050. As such, cities represent the single greatest opportunity for tackling climate change. To take effective action, however, cities need reliable data on their emissions.

WRI’s Role

WRI partnered with C40 and ICLEI to create the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories, launched in December 2014. The GPC, which builds on WRI’s flagship Greenhouse Gas Protocol, provides a common standard enabling cities to accurately and comprehensively measure their emissions, set reduction strategies and track their progress.

Starting in 2013, WRI, C40 and ICLEI piloted the GPC in 35 cities and actively engaged organizations to ensure broad adoption. The Compact of Mayors, the carbonn Climate Registry, CDP, the World Bank, UN-HABITAT, the Inter-American Development Bank, the British Standards Institution and many other organizations have now adopted the GPC standard.

The Impact

The GPC is the first widely endorsed international standard for cities to measure and report their emissions. Using the GPC, cities can assess what strategies are working and hold themselves accountable for results. Better data can also help to drive investment, providing cities improved access to local and international climate financing.

The more than 300 cities worldwide that have joined the Compact of Mayors have committed to measure their emissions using the GPC, develop action plans to reduce emissions and publicly report on their progress. Many have committed to emission reduction targets. If all Compact of Mayors cities commit to a similar level of ambition, they could collectively avoid the emission of 700 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030 – comparable to removing nearly all passenger cars from U.S. roads. As more cities join the Compact of Mayors and adopt the GPC, the potential impact on curbing climate change will increase.

In 2015, a growing number of international organizations, companies and investment firms used Aqueduct – WRI’s global online water data platform – to assess risk and improve water management. With its clear, accessible presentation of information, Aqueduct has become the world standard for water risk assessment.

The Challenge

Businesses and other multinational organizations can’t manage what they can’t measure when it comes to water availability now and in the future. Because the risks to this essential resource are complex, they can be challenging to present in an accessible format to the range of audiences that need them.

WRI’s Role

Aqueduct staff worked actively with the Red Cross Red Crescent, Morgan Stanley, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Natural Capital Declaration, and a suite of German sustainability and financial entities to integrate water risk data into decision-making.

FAO’s AQUASTAT, the world’s leading water data source, will now include key Aqueduct indicators on flooding and water supply variability from year to year and from season to season. This will enhance FAO’s monitoring of progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals aimed at eradicating extreme poverty while encouraging sustainable development.

Red Cross Red Crescent’s Climate Centre uses the Aqueduct Global Flood Analyzer in its worldwide training program to help decision-makers communicate current and future flood risks in terms of the number of lives affected and dollars lost, while making these risks relevant to trainees with estimates for countries, states and watersheds where local data is not available.

Morgan Stanley’s Sustainable + Responsible investment research team chose Aqueduct to identify water risk to potential investments, such as the food and beverage sector, empowering more investors to understand water risk and drive improved water management among companies in their portfolios.

The German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Natural Capital Declaration and the German Association for Environmental Management and Sustainability in Financial Institutions incorporated Aqueduct data on future water stress into a tool to identify water risks to corporate bonds. The tool will be available in the Bloomberg terminal for financial analysts.

The Impact

By quantifying complex risks and making this information simple to find and use, Aqueduct data has become the standard for water risk assessment. When these risks are explained in meaningful terms of economic and human impact, they become easier to manage. Ultimately, the widespread use of Aqueduct will enable people, businesses and entire societies to cope better as climate change and other factors increase water-related risks.

WRI worked with Brazil’s Ministry of Cities on technical guidelines for Caixa, the Brazilian federal funding agency, which led to $4 billion in investment for 63 high-quality urban mobility projects in 56 Brazilian cities. The guidelines will be applied to transform car-oriented streets into corridors that prioritize non-motorized and public transport, fostering sustainable urban development.

The Challenge

Brazil wants to invest in projects that transform transportation arteries through its Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), but in most cities municipal staff in charge of developing projects lack the necessary training. Likewise, the evaluation of technical standards for Ministry projects is scattered across numerous Caixa municipal offices, where technical staff rarely have the expertise to analyze projects that will shape sustainable urban development in the coming decades.

WRI’s Role

Building on a decade of cooperation with the Ministry of Cities, WRI’s cities team in Brazil was chosen to lead the development of first-of-its-kind guidelines for Caixa, the agency responsible for providing loans and monitoring project implementation, to assess the quality of all urban mobility projects and to target federal funds only to those that meet the guidelines’ criteria. The 107 criteria now consolidated into a Ministry of Cities document are grouped into nine modules that cover issues such as priority bus lanes, sidewalks, bicycle paths and road safety standards.

WRI then piloted the guidelines in four large cities – Florianópolis, Joinville, Juiz de Flora and Pelotas – and offered recommendations that these cities followed to improve their projects. The guidelines were launched at an event co-hosted by the Ministry of Planning and Caixa, and distributed at an event on urban sustainable mobility that drew over 160 people from 40 cities.

The Impact

The guidelines have led to $4 billion in investment in 63 high-quality urban mobility projects in 56 cities and are on track to become mandatory for all new urban transport projects that seek federal funding. The team will refine the guidelines based on feedback from the Ministry of Cities as the projects proceed, helping designers and decision-makers to plan the next generation of urban mobility projects across Brazil.

The Consumer Goods Forum, a global association of 400 companies representing $2.7 trillion in combined annual sales, committed to halving food waste by 2025 in conformance with the new Food Loss & Waste Protocol being developed by WRI and partners. The commitment will save annually hundreds of millions of tons of food that would otherwise have gone to waste.

The Challenge

One of every four food calories intended for human consumption is not eaten, a level of inefficiency that causes $750 billion in annual economic losses and exacerbates food insecurity and malnutrition. Food that is lost or wasted consumes a quarter of all water used by agriculture, requires cropland area the size of China, and is responsible for an estimated seven percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

WRI’s Role

In 2013, WRI invited the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) to become one of six steering committee members to develop the Food Loss & Waste Protocol, a global accounting and reporting standard for quantifying food and associated inedible parts removed from the food supply chain. Lining up powerful players to help create this standard – including intergovernmental organizations like the FAO and the UN Environment Programme, private sector groups including the CGF and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and technical experts at EU FUSIONS and the Waste & Resources Action Programme – taps into global expertise and enables global impact.

For the CGF, knowing that a standard for how to quantify and report on food loss and waste was in development and having a stake in its development provided a solid foundation for an ambitious Food Waste Resolution. Announced in June 2015, the Resolution sets a target for CGF members to halve food waste within their retail and manufacturing operations by 2025 relative to a 2016 baseline.

The Impact

CGF’s target is the first worldwide corporate resolution to reduce food waste at this scale. The commitment is massive: 400 of the world’s largest retailers, manufacturers and service providers will quantify food that is wasted within their manufacturing and retail operations in a globally consistent and credible manner. By knowing how much food is wasted and where, they will be able to develop targeted strategies for reducing waste and monitor progress over time. The CGF commitment will reduce hundreds of millions of tons of food waste every year by 2025 and sets an example for other decision-makers to follow.

Photo: Ollivier Girard for Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

In 2015, tens of thousands of individuals, hundreds of institutions and many governments used Global Forest Watch (GFW) tools and data to make better decisions about forest resources. This has the potential to improve the management of millions of hectares of forests, benefitting people and ecosystems around the world.

The Challenge

More than one billion people depend on forests for their livelihood, but despite efforts to combat deforestation, forest ecosystems are still under threat. Thirty percent of global forest cover has been cleared, while another 20 percent has been degraded, and most remaining forests have been fragmented. Governments, companies, and citizens wishing to manage remaining forests sustainably require timely, accessible, reliable data.

WRI’s Role

GFW, a partnership of over 70 organizations convened by WRI, is a dynamic online forest monitoring and alert system that empowers people everywhere to better manage forests. Following GFW’s 2014 launch, WRI and partners have added higher-resolution satellite data and created targeted applications. For example, through GFW Commodities, a tool to help businesses address deforestation in their supply chains, GFW has mapped and assessed the deforestation risk of nearly 1,000 palm oil mill locations. Through GFW Fires, a tool for monitoring forest and land fires in Southeast Asia, GFW has combined satellite data and detailed maps of land cover and concessions to show where fires are occurring and who might be responsible.

The Impact

Governments using GFW to design or implement policy now manage over 400 million hectares of forest, an area more than twice the size of Mexico. For example, GFW helped inform the extension and strengthening of Indonesian’s moratorium on new forest concessions, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo uses GFW to calculate “deforestation taxes.” Private sector users of GFW include the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (a consortium of over 1,700 companies) and two of the world’s largest pulp and paper companies (APP and APRIL), which are using GFW Fires to support fire monitoring and response. Journalists have cited GFW’s experts and data in over 1,500 stories – for example, work by Mongabay which spurred enforcement action in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park. More than 700 organizations from over 90 countries have interacted with GFW through its Small Grants Fund, and 27 projects have received grants to use GFW on the ground. A recent independent evaluation surveyed nearly 500 GFW users with nearly 60 detailed interviews and confirmed GFW’s widespread use and impact.

Sludge-to-energy systems are a well-established technology, but their potential in China was little understood. WRI research demonstrated that such systems in China could reduce solid waste, greenhouse gases and water pollution, and produce organic compost and compressed natural gas – all while saving money. WRI’s work with Chinese officials helped them to plan or install plants in four Chinese cities that can eliminate 700,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year.

The Challenge

Wastewater and sewage sludge produced in the wastewater treatment process can pollute waterways if not safely treated. Sewage sludge is typically incinerated, releasing carbon dioxide and the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, or disposed of in landfills, releasing the potent greenhouse gas methane. Both contribute to global climate change. Conventional wastewater treatment is also an energy-intensive process.

WRI's Role

WRI studied a pilot project in the city of Xiangyang to convert sludge to energy. The study evaluated the nutrient recovery, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, reclaimed methane and cost of sludge disposal systems and concluded that a sludge-to-energy system reduced solid wastes, greenhouse gases and water pollution, all while saving money. At the same time, the residue from the sludge treatment can be used as an organic compost, and the methane produced can be used to power the sludge disposal systems and compressed natural gas vehicles, further limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

Based on these findings, WRI worked with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the agency that sets wastewater and sludge policy for China, to promote sludge-to-energy systems to other cities. WRI organized a study tour to several U.S. sludge-to-energy systems to help city leaders understand the benefits of the process.

The Impact

These efforts helped lead four large cities in China – Beijing, Changsha, Chengdu and Hefei – to install or plan sludge-to-energy systems. Based on WRI estimates, these plants can help reduce 700,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year, comparable to one-third of the emissions produced each day by all the cars on U.S. roads. The plants are also expected to produce nearly 40 million cubic meters of compressed natural gas for taxis and city buses – enough to fill the tanks of 2 million taxis – while also powering the sludge disposal systems themselves. Further uptake of sludge-to-energy systems will reduce water pollution and help China to reach its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. WRI is now working with the World Bank and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to promote sludge-to-energy systems globally.

The core message of New Climate Economy (NCE) – that economic growth and climate action can and must go together to spur 21st century development – has started to bring real change in at least four countries on three continents.

The Challenge

Taking the concept of intertwined economic growth and climate action from discourse to policy action is critical to shifting to a lower-carbon, more prosperous world. That requires changing the thinking of finance ministers and other economic decision-makers about environmentally sustainable opportunities.

WRI’s Role

Through a major report and almost 30 research and country study releases since late 2014, and by participating in over 170 events in 40 countries, including face-to-face discussions with eight heads of state and more than 45 government ministers, NCE has begun to deliver change in China, Colombia, Ethiopia and India, among other countries.

To shift public discourse and unlock political opportunity, NCE deploys high-level spokespeople, in particular members of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, to deliver its message to target audiences in key countries and the media. By drawing on the varied strengths of its institutional partners – such as WRI for cities and land use, ODI on development or Tsinghua University in China and EDRI in Ethiopia – NCE can develop and spread the evidence base and messages in specific areas and countries. Strong communication and engagement, aligned with targeted research, drives NCE’s rising visibility.

As managing partner for the multi-institute partnership that has developed NCE’s work, WRI’s NCE team helps to deliver relevant analyses, management oversight and communications through the global office in Washington and country-targeted support for high-level engagement through international offices in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Turkey.

The Impact

In China, NCE partner research on the energy security and air pollution benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions provided evidence that supported China’s plan to peak coal consumption by 2020 and emissions by 2030. In Colombia, after a discussion with President Felipe Calderón, the Chair of the Global Commission, President Juan Manuel Santos instructed his ministers to integrate climate across the country’s five-year economic development plan. Ethiopia is reflecting the NCE approach to urban planning in its next national Growth and Transformation Plan. In India, NCE partners are working on a renewable energy feasibility and financing program with the Ministry of Railways (the largest energy user in India by some counts) following discussions with President Calderón and other Global Commissioners and partners.

Managing for Results

We define results as significant actions taken as a consequence of our activities and influence, by government agencies, corporations, policymakers, scientists, or civil society. Our results (what we often call “outcomes”) are generated through a highly focused system of clear goals and 3-5 year strategic objectives. Many are achieved in collaboration with WRI’s more than 400 partner organizations around the world.